Re: Choosing the right word: Guidelines for our global audience

Subject: Re: Choosing the right word: Guidelines for our global audience
From: Janice Gelb <Janice -dot- Gelb -at- Sun -dot- COM>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:27:55 +1000

Kate Wilcox wrote:
>
> I've always loved Mark Twain's advice to "use the right word and not its
> second cousin." But now that I'm working for a company with a
> distributed workforce (writers in the US and India) and a global
> audience, I'm starting to question which words are right.
>
> This goes beyond the typical spelling differences (color vs. colour) and
> clear-cut differences in meanings [jumper (one that jumps) vs. jumper
> (dress)]. I'm talking about common English words that have different
> connotations to different readers and writers. [snip]
>

Internationalizing/localizing product documentation
is always tricky. The aim is to write in a way that
is as neutral and universally understood as you can
get, as you note. If you can manage to rephrase
wording that you know is problematic, so much the
better, obviously.

For example, this case:
>
> US: Make sure you understand the requirements before you begin.
>
> India: Make sure you appreciate the requirements before you begin.
>
> Issue: The Indian writer considered "understand" to be rude. The US
> writer considered "appreciate," and its connotation of recognizing
> quality, to be too broad.
>

Perhaps you could rephrase as:

"Make sure you are aware of the requirements
before you begin."

However, in other cases, you have to come down off
the fence on one side or the other (as with your
"team is/team are" example). Punctuation is
another area that has to be either/or.

In our case, our style guide is reviewed by our
localization group and we have a whole chapter
giving advice about writing for an international
audience. Regarding English for English speakers,
though, our company is based in America and our
primary English-speaking audience is American as
well. When these types of questions first arose,
we discussed it and ended up adding a note to our
style guide specifically saying that our standard
was American English. (That way, at least individual
editors and managers can point to that statement in
the style guide as a corporate standard when accused
of being culturally insensitive :-> )

-- Janice

***********************************************************
Janice Gelb | The only connection Sun has with
janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com | this message is the return address
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.


References:
Choosing the right word: Guidelines for our global audience: From: Kate Wilcox

Previous by Author: RE: Looking for Handeze gloves? A warning...
Next by Author: Re: Service Mark
Previous by Thread: Re: Choosing the right word: Guidelines for our global audience
Next by Thread: Inflammable vs. flammable


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads